County was better prepared for heat wave

STOCKTON - As forecasts last summer warned of a sustained and brutal heat wave about to hit Central California, San Joaquin County officials prepared for the worst.

Zachary K. Johnson

STOCKTON - As forecasts last summer warned of a sustained and brutal heat wave about to hit Central California, San Joaquin County officials prepared for the worst.

In 2006, the heat killed 25 people in the county, and livestock deaths caused the loss of millions of dollars to agriculture.

But the worst didn't repeat itself in 2013. The heat, though intense, did not climb as high or last as long as expected. Dozens still went to hospitals with heat-related illnesses, but nobody died, according to officials.

"That was our goal: to avoid the consequences of 2006," said Michael Cockrell, county director of emergency operations.

Still, the county declared a local emergency and enacted its emergency-response plan. Now the county has released a report into the response to the heat wave that saw temperatures top 100 degrees for six days in a row in late June and early July.

The report shows what the county and other government and private organizations did to prevent the consequences of seven years ago and where they needed to improve before the next hot-weather emergency hits the county.

The experience of 2006 allowed the county to be better prepared as forecasts predicted temperatures reaching as high as 114 degrees for more than a weeklong stretch, officials said. "2006 gave us an inkling of what we had to do," said Supervisor Ken Vogel, who as the chairman of the Board of Supervisors directs countywide responses to emergencies. He was part of daily meetings to assess the changing conditions and county response.

Forecasts predicted humid nights would prevent the temperature from falling. For people without air conditioning, it could have meant no time to cool down, increasing health risks. A lack of cool-down time also could have increased the chance that electrical equipment could fail, knocking out power to people who did have air conditioning.

Government and private organizations coordinated with each other to reach out to those who would most need a place to cool down, providing information and making transportation available to a dozen cooling centers across the county for a segment of the population without access to air conditioning.

That meant going door to door in mobile home parks, senior housing and other places where there are people who might be more vulnerable to heat-related illnesses.

The dozen cooling centers were often near low-income areas. In 2006, some who died had air conditioning but didn't think they could afford to turn it on, according to county health officials. More than 800 people came to cooling centers across the county this past summer.

"I think it really paid off. People knew where to go where they could have air conditioning," county Public Health Officer Karen Furst said.

As temperatures rose this past summer, officials also met with agricultural labor contractors to make sure they knew the rules for providing shade and water to farm workers, Cockrell said. And since the heat wave was projected to hit on the Fourth of July holiday, officials worked with the people organizing events to provide cooling stations.

Losses to agriculture in 2006 topped $40 million as animals died in the hot weather. The county this year had a plan in place and was ready to help get rid of any animal carcasses, which had overwhelmed rendering facilities in 2006. That year saw carcasses illegally buried or left on roadways.

Not everything ran smoothly, however, in 2013. The county daily action plan was sometimes delayed and didn't always reach the right people, according to the report.

And the county had problems with the database that kept track of logistical information, such as whom to contact when infrastructure such as ice, fans and other equipment needed to be acquired and deployed.

The emergency struck as the county was transferring that information from an Apple to a Microsoft computer system, Cockrell said. Not all the database information converted to the new system, he said. It caused delays, and officials fired up the old computers to get to the information, he said.

The new report on the county response includes mentions of what officials considered both successes and concerns during its response to the heat from June 25 through July 7. It also calculated the cost of the additional response at about $44,000.

The county showed good preparation and response to the developing situation, said Supervisor Bob Elliott, who as vice chairman was also part of the daily briefings during the heat wave. But it could be streamlined and improved, he said, something he said he would like to focus on.

"We hope to use the lessons learned ... to be even better next time," he said.